PERCORSI IN CERAMICA31

“Casalgrande Padana” Protagonist of Expo 2015Casalgrande Padana is assisting the construction of some significant pavilions, such as the Vanke Pavilion, designed by Daniel Libeskind

Percorsi in ceramica, Casalgrande Padana’s in-house publication, is dedicating a large part of this issue to the Universal Exposition, which is currently taking place in Milan. Casalgrande Padana has been involved in a number of distinguished creations, supplying materials and offering innovative solutions.
The most significant contribution has been to the pavilion of the prestigious Chinese company Vanke — designed by architect Daniel Libeskind —, for which Casalgrande Padana has created a spectacular and innovative ceramic casing, made up of thousands of porcelain stoneware slabs. This is the distinctive feature of a surprising architectural creation which will certainly catch the eye of visitors; also, thanks to the technological solutions that have been developed, this creation has delved into new expressive territories, which had previously been unexplored when it comes to architectural cladding.
Strategically placed near to the Lake Arena and the Palazzo Italia, the Vanke pavilion is striking due to its strong figurative nature, which, through the organic plasticity of the parametric ceramic casing, draws attention to some of the key issues highlighted by the 2015 Expo’s topic, “Feeding the planet, energy for life”. It builds on the theme “building community through food”, recreating a traditional Shitang, a communal Chinese dining room.
Next to this significant project, covered and analysed at length in the pages of the magazine, Percorsi in ceramica talks about some of the recent events in which Casalgrande Padana has been a protagonist. These include: construction of the new landmark The Crown getting underway, designed by Daniel Libeskind, which follows the construction of the spectacular Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud by Kengo Kuma; the ‘Laboratorio Ceramics of Italy’ exhibition-cum-performance, promoted by Confindustria Ceramica as part of the cultural initiatives organised in Milan, alongside Expo 2015; the prestigious Architizer A+Award, given to the Bios Self-Cleaning® range, in the Building Products – Façades category; the active contribution and direct involvement to support the Mantova Architettura festival (an architecture festival organised by the Mantua campus of the Polytechnic University of Milan) alongside the architecture magazine Casabella; giving updates on works in progress for the tenth edition of the Grand Prix international architecture competition.